Pour spout carton having a hinged reclosable lid

ABSTRACT

A reclosable pour spout carton is disclosed which may have a grease proof holdout coating on the inside thereof, and which includes a plurality of side and end wall panels, a plurality of top and bottom closure flaps and a hinged cover member. The carton blank is secured together along a manufacturers joint located in the central portion of one of the side wall panels and is straight line glued with two unbroken glue applications and three folds to bond interior surfaces to exterior surfaces only.

United States Patent 1191 Forbes, Jr.

[ Oct. 9, 1973 POUR SPOUT CARTON HAVING A HINGED RECLOSABLE LID [75] Inventor: Hampton E. Forbes, Jr.,Wilmington,

21 Appl. No.: 185,766

[52] U.S. Cl 229/17 R [51] Int. Cl 865d 5/74 [58] Field of Search 229/17 R, 44

[56] 1 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,672,273 3/1954 Smith 229/17 R X 3,481,524 12/ 1969 Ruud et a1. 229/17 R 3,262,630 7/1966 Koolnis 229/17 R 3,057,532 10/1962 Cutler et a1. 229/17 R 3,583,625 6/1971 Gero 229/17 R 2,339,656 l/1944 Shira 229/17 R 3,616,987 11/1971 Krzyanowski 229/17 R 3,133,688 5/1964 Asman 229/17 R 3,163,349 12/1964 Silver 229/17 R X 2,098,818 11/1937 Andrews 229/17 R Primary Examiner-Samuel F. Coleman Assistant Examiner-Norman L. Stack, Jr. Attorney-Larry C. Hall et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A reclosable pour spout carton is disclosed which may have a grease proof holdout coating on the inside thereof, and which includes a plurality of side and end wall panels, a plurality of top and bottom closure flaps and a hinged cover member. The carton blank is secured together along a manufacturers joint located in the central portion of one of the side wall panels and is straight line glued with two unbroken glue applications and three folds to bond interior surfaces to exterior surfaces only.

4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures Patented Oct. 9, 1973 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.

INVENTOR Hampton E. Forbes, Jr.

BY M d M 4 ATTORNEY I Patented Oct. 9, 1973 3,764,058

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5

INVENTOR Hampton E. Forbes, Jr.

BY W1 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1973 3,764,058

3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 7.

FIG. ll.

INVENTOR Hampton E. Forbes, Jr.

BY W

ATTORNEY POUR SPOUT CARTON HAVING A HINGED RECLOSABLE LID SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a carton of the reclosable type having a hinged lid or cover member. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved structure and manufacturing method for a pour spout carton. I

The carton disclosed herein features a novel hinged lid structure, and includes a convenient pour spout means with a means for locking the hinged lid in position in the closed condition. The blank from which the carton is constructed requires only a minimum amount of paperboard and it can be assembled with a minimum of effort. Moreover, the carton is readily set-up, filled with the commodity to be packaged and sealed on high speed machinery. In addition, the carton has sufficient strength to withstand shipping and handling without premature opening, and the design of the pour spout opening and hinged cover therefor provides a tight reclosure scheme with a minimum of material and no leakage.

The improved carton of this invention is particularly useful for packaging and dispensing both dry flowable products and greasy non-flowable products. Cartons adapted for packaging powdered, flaked or granular products whether dry or greasy, usually include provisions for a dispensing opening in either one, or both of the top or upper side edges of the carton. These provisions generally include scored and perforated panels of various types. The panels of the carton having the per.- forations are essentially the walls of the carton, and the perforated portion is torn away to form the dispensing opening. With these sort of cartons, it is virtually impossible to reclose the carton in order to protect the contents and leakage and spoilage generally occurs.

Furthermore, cartons for packaging greasy products generally require some form of grease proof holdout barrier'to the inside carton walls. The holdout materials often used for this purpose are polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride. Howevenpanels that are coated with either one of these materials do not adhere very well to one another except after a relatively long dwell time which will allow the adhesive to bond the surfaces together. Thus for cartons which require a grease resistant barrier on the interior surfaces of the package for grease holdout, there can be no interior-to-interior glue bonds used in the manufacture of the cartons, or the cartons cannot be glued on high speed equipment. Generally, on high speed gluing equipment, the set time for the bonding of glued jointsis from 30 to 60 seconds in the compression section of the gluer, and glued joints between polyethylene coated surfaces or polyvinyl chloride coated surfaces require approximately 2 hours in which to set. I

Most of the prior art cartons having pour spouts and reclosable lids, require one or more glued joints which present interior to interior surface faces for the glue application. Thus, each of these prior art disclosures could not be successfully used to fabricate grease proof cartons. However, with the novel carton construction disclosed herein, the glued joints bond the interior surfaces to the exteriors at all times with only three folds and two glue applications. Moreover, no single fold is required with the carton disclosed herein which incorporates more than a single ply of material.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, a single blank of foldable material such as paperboard is cut and scored to form a plurality of side and end wall panels, a plurality of top and bottom closure flaps, and the hinged cover member. The savings in material achieved with the carton blank of the present invention is realized by locating the manufacturers joint of the carton in the central portion of one of the side wall panels, with the hinged cover member located at the side edge of one of the side wall panels. This particular arrangement of the different panels of the carton provides a carton in which the top portion is provided with a reclosable cover member which includes a portion of one of the top closure flaps. Moreover, the cover member also includes marginal flange panels connected to the top closure flaps which extend downwardly over portions of the carton side wall panels and the intermediate end wall panel. In addition, the carton blank described may be straight line glued at higher running speeds than those achieved on spot gluing machines. There are only two unbroken glue applications which permit interior to exterior glue joints with three folds, two in one direction and the third in the opposite direction. Thus the carton described is mainly useful for those applications which require grease proof coatings, and the pour spout portion of the carton in the preferred embodiment of the invention consists of unbroken and unperforated side and end wall panels of the carton structure itself. Meanwhile, the hinged cover member for the pour spout simply overlaps and extends downwardly over portions of the side and end wall panels to provide an effective sift proof carton opening with no opportunity for the carton contents to leak therefrom.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, a single blank of paperboard or the like is cut and scored to form a plurality of side and end wall panels, a plurality of top and bottom closure flaps and a pour spout extension located along one edge of a side wall panel. In this embodiment, the carton blank is closed by a manufacturers joint midway of one of the side wall panels as in the first embodiment. Further, the carton of this second embodiment is also straight line glued as was the carton in the first embodiment thereby permitting higher running speeds with only two unbroken glue applications and using only three folds, two in one direction and the third in the opposite direction. The carton of this second embodiment differs from the carton of the first embodiment only in regard to the manner in which the pour spout opening is formed and the arrangement of the pour spout extension.

In the first embodiment, the pour spout extension constitutes the primary side and end walls of the car-. ton, however, for this second embodiment, the pour spout opening is actually formed as a part of the primary carton side and end walls with the pour spout extension being integral with the carton blank and connected to one edge thereof. Of course, in this second embodiment the glue joints are all interior surface to exterior surface as provided in the first embodiment which permits the carton construction to be particularly useful for cartons with holdout coatings on the inside surfaces thereof.

In the above description, the novel points made for the carton of the present invention include a minimum amount of material required, greater manufacturing speed, and unlimited utility for grease proof or holdout coated cartons. It should be noted however that if it were desired to manufacture the carton described herein with unbroken side wall panels, such a feature could be accomplished simply by extending the manufacturers joint, previously described as being located centrally in a side wall panel, completely across to one of the end wall panels. This particular alteration would clearly be within the scope of the present invention and would provide unbroken surfaces on both side wall panels for uninterrupted printed material, however, the economy of paperboard achieved with the preferred embodiment described would not be realized. Furthermore when the carton constructed in accordance with the present invention was to be used to package a product requiring some sort of holdout coating on the inside carton surfaces such as a grease proof coating, the details of the coating would not be considered as a part of the present invention. Obviously, however, the carton blank would have to be coated with the holdout material prior to its formation.

Accordingly, the carton construction described herein incorporates glue joints which bond an interior surface of the carton blank to an exterior surface at all times. The construction of each embodiment further has only two glued seams and the carton in each case is formed with a maximum of only three folds. The carton blank is applied with glue on a high speed straight line gluing machine with only a single pass through the machine. In the first embodiment described, the hinged cover member for the pour spout opening is pre-cut and scored when the major panels of the carton are formed and the cover member assumes a closed condition which overlaps the upper portion of the carton primary side and end wall panels with a single exterior glue flap. The hinged cover member for the first embodiment herein is attached to the carton blank along two single weakened lines at each side thereof for easy opening, or, it may be secured to the carton blank by means of tear strips provided at each side thereof. And the economy feature of the carton (minimum board required) is achieved by employing a manufacturers joint in one of the side wall panels thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of a flat blank from which the pour spout carton is formed;

FIG. 1A is a partial view of the hinged carton closure member of FIG. 1 showing an alternative. opening scheme;

FIG. 2 shows the blank of FIG. 1 after the first fold sequence and glue application;

FIG. 3 shows the blank of FIG. 2 after the second fold sequence and the second glue application;

FIG. 4 shows the blank of FIG. 3 after the third fold sequence to form the completed carton blank;

FIG. 5 shows the carton formed from the blank of FIG. 1 in its set-up and closed condition;

FIG. 6 shows the carton of FIG. 5 with hinged top closure open;

FIG. 7 shows in plan view a flat blank for constructing the carton of the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows the blank of FIG. 7 after the first fold sequence and glue application;

FIG. 9 shows the blank of FIG. 8 after the second fold sequence;

'FIG. 10 shows the blank of FIG. 9 after the third fold sequence and the second glue application; and,

FIG. 11 shows the carton formed from the blank of FIG. 10 with the hinged closure member open.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a pour spout carton is formed from a single blank of foldable material such as paperboard, wherein the pour spout portion of the carton comprises the upper portion of two of the carton primary side wall panels and an intermediate end wall panel. The blank further includes an integrally attached hinged cover member for the pour spout opening which includes flanged elements to overlap the carton side and end walls in the pour spout region when the cover member is closed. In addition, the carton blank includes at least one additional locking flap on the intermediate end wall panel of the pour spout opening for retaining the hinged cover member in a closed condition when desired. The invention also features the method of construction which is characterized by providing for the manufacture of the carton with one pass through a straight line gluing machine, to apply two glue strips, and, assembly with only three folding steps wherein all of the glue bonds are achieved with interior to exterior walls of the carton blank.

A second embodiment of the present invention is characterized by being adaptable to the same method of manufacture hereinbefore described and which includes a pour spout area formed from the major panels of a carton blank, with a pour spout extension foldably attached along one edge of the carton blank.

Referring first to FIG. 1 of the drawing, there is illustrated a one-piece blank of foldable material such as paperboard which comprises a plurality of panels 10, 11, l2, l3 and 14 separated by crease lines 34, 35, 36 and 37 which in the formed condition of the carton make up the end and side walls thereof. At the upper and lower ends of the side and end wall panels there are located the top and bottom closure flaps 20, 21, 22 and 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33. In addition, at the upper edge of the end wall panel 11 there is attached a hinged cover locking flap l9, and, attached along the free edge of one of the side wall panels 14 is the hinged carton closure member 46.

The hinged carton closure member 46 includes a plurality of flanged extension flaps l5, l6, l7 and a glue flap 18. The flanged extension flaps are in turned foldably attached to one another so as to overlap the side wall panels 10 and 12 and the intermediate end wall panel 11 in the closed condition. Flanged extension flap 15 is connected to the side wall panel 14 by a perforated line 38 and the flanged extension flap 17 is connected to the glue flap 18 by a perforated line 39. Additional top closure flaps 23, 24, 25 are attached to the upper edges of the flanged extension flaps 15, 16, 17 with closure flap 25 being separated from an extension 26 of glue flap 18 along a scored hinge line 43. Similarly, the closure flap 23 is shown as being connected to closure flap 22 along ascored hinge line 42. The scored hinge lines 42, 43 coincide with one another in the erected condition of the carton to provide the hinged connection for the hinged carton closure member 46. The weakened perforated lines 38, 39 are provided for ease in opening the carton to expose the pour spout. The top closure flaps 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 effectively seal the top portion of the carton and the bottom closure flaps 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33 seal the bottomof the carton.

FIG. 1A discloses an alternative embodiment for opening the carton and releasing the hinged carton closure member 46 to dispense from the carton. In this figure, the perforated lines 38 and 39 of FIG. 1 are illustrated as being replaced by paired perforated lines 38a and 39a which each form a removable tear strip element. Thus for opening the carton in accordance with the FIG.'1A embodiment, the two tear strips are simply removed thereby allowing the carton top closure 46 to be swung up and back along the hinge lines 42, 43 to expose the pour spout portion of the carton.

' FIGS. 2-4 illustrate in detail a preferred method for folding the carton blank of FIG. 1 to produce the completed carton illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. For this purpose, the carton blanks would be arranged on a high speed straight line gluing and folding machine such as an International or Post machine with their printability surfaces down and the inside of the blanks up. If the cartons were to be. ultimately used to package a greasy product, they would have been pre-coated with a hold out barrier coating on the inside surfaces thereof namely, a polyethylene coating, or a polyvinylchloride coating for instance, or, a coating head could be arranged on the gluing and folding machine if desired. When the blanks were properly arranged for forming, they would first pass through a gluing station in the direction of the arrow shown thereon, for applying adhesive along the edge of panel as shown at 44 from a bottom glue pot. Next, the carton blank would go through a folding device for administering the first fold sequence along fold line 35 to expose the outside of panels 10 and 11 as shown. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, the carton blank would pass through a second folding sequence to fold the blank along fold line 37 and adhere the exterior of panel 10 to the interior of panel 14. Next the blank would be passed through a second gluing stage to apply adhesive from a top glue pot to the glue flaps 18 and 26 of the hinged carton closure 46. And finally, the carton blank would pass through a third folding sequence to fold the blank along fold line 41 to adhere flaps 18 and 26 to panel 12 and flap 20.

Thus, the completely formed carton would be assembled with two glue applications and three folds, two from left to right and one from right to left to adhere interiorsurfaces to exterior surfaces as set forth hereinbefore. The assembled carton as described, when formed on high speed equipment, would be completely bonded in the 30 to 60 seconds provided in the compression section of the gluing machine, and could then be collected for shipment to the user.

Theflabove described assembly of the carton blank illustrated in FIGS. 1-4 represents, of course, the preferred folding scheme using the economy" model for the carton. That is, for this particular blank, the two half side wall panels 10 and 14 are bonded together to form a seam, or manufacturers joint, extending substantially centrally of one of the side walls of the carton. If complete side walls were required for the carton, the panel 14 could be doubled in size to completely overlap side wall panel 10 thus achieving a continuous side wall at each side of the carton. However, for this configuration, the savings in board achieved with the economy model would not be realized. Alternatively,

the folding scheme previously described could readily be changed if desired. For instance'the carton blank of FIG. 1 could just as easily be folded along fold lines 34, 36 and 40 in the same sequence as described above.

In the second embodiment of the invention, illustrated in FIGS. 7-11, the carton blank is shown as including a plurality of side wall panels, top closure flap, bottom closure flaps and an integrally attached pour spout extension 66. In this embodiment, elements similar to those of the first embodiment have been given the same reference characters for continuity of description. Thus the side wall panels are 10, ll, l2, l3 and 14; the bottom closure flaps 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33; and, the top closure flaps 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. However for this second embodiment, the pour spout of the carton is formed by the pour spout extension 66 and the carton opening element and hinged closure member is formed by perforated lines 49, and 51 inthe side and end wall panels 10, 11 and 12. Additionally, for this second embodiment, the pour spout has been shown as having more or less semi-circular sides 49, 51, but, the particular shape chosen could readily be altered to suit the desired purpose. For instance, the perfor'ated lines could be made straight or they could even comprise tear strip elements for releasing the hinged cover member.

The carton blank of FIG. 7 is another example of the economy model preferred in the present invention and is shown as being cut and scored to provide the hinged cover member at the left side of the blank. For this purpose side wall panels 10, 11 and 12 are applied with the perforated lines 49 50 and 51 of the desired shape. A glue flap extension 26 is shown as being separated from the closure flap 25 along a hinge fold line 42 and a second hinge fold line 43 divides the top closure flap attached to side wall panel 12' into the portions 20 and 23. At the right side of the blank of FIG. 7, the pour spout extension 66 is shown as consisting of only two additional panels 61 and 62, separated from side wall panel 14 along fold line 65 and separated from one another along the fold line 64. In addition, the hinged carton closure locking flap 19 is shown as being attached along the upper edge of panel 61.

FIGS. 8-10 show in some detail a preferred method for folding and assembling the carton blank into the complete carton shown in FIG. 11. Again, the carton blank could be coated with a holdout coating if desired, and, it is preferably assembled on an International or Post high speed straight line gluing and folding machine. When ready for assembly, the carton blanks would be arranged printability side down and passed through the gluing and folding machine in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 7) to be folded as follows. A first fold sequence would apply a right to left fold of pourspout extension panel 62 along fold line 64. Next the blank would pass through a straight line glue stage where glue would be applied by a top glue pot at 47 of panel62. If desired, glue could also be simultaneously applied by a second top glue pot to the inside of side wall panel 10 and glue flap 26. However, if a fast drying glue were applied, or, if the machinery would interfere with the second simultaneous glue application, it would preferably not be applied until later.

Next the carton blank would pass through a second folding sequence for another right to left fold along the 'fold line 37 thereby adhering the exterior surface of pour spout extension flap 62 to the inside surface of side wall panel 12. Then, if not already applied, glue would be applied to the side wall panel 10 and glue flap 26 as shown at 48, and the third fold sequence would take place, left to right, along the fold line 35. Thus the carton of FIG. 10 would be completed, and ready to be set up as shown in FIG. 11.

The above described assembly of the carton blank illustrated in FIGS. 7-10 represents the preferred folding scheme for the economy model of the carton. if the glued seam between side wall panels 10 and 14 were found undesirable, panel 10 could readily be extended full width if desired to provide two unbroken side walls on the carton. Furthermore, the carton thus described could readily be run on the high speed machinery intended for the carton of the first embodiment since the glue application and folding sequence would easily permit good bonding of even grease proof cartons within the compression section of the high speed machinery.

Thus while certain features of the invention have been pointed out in some detail in the foregoing specification and draiwng, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and detail of the cartons could be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims,

I claim:

1. A carton blank formed from foldable material for fabricating a reclosable pour spout carton comprising:

a. a plurality of spaced parallel side wall panels and spaced parallel end wall panels connected to one another along substantially parallel fold lines:

b. a hinged carton closure member integral with said blank and foldably attached thereto along one of said side wall panels, said hinged carton closure member comprising a plurality of flanges including a first flange detachably connected to said side wall panel, an intermediate flange foldably connected to said first flange, a second flange foldably connected to the opposite side of said intermediate flange and a glue flap detachably connected to the opposite edge of said second flange;

c. bottom closure flaps foldably connected to the hottom edges of each of said spaced side and end wall panels;

d. top closure flaps foldably attached to the upper edges of said side wall panels, one of said end wall panels and each of said hinged carton closure flanges;

e. hinged fold lines in said top closure flaps which extend from the ends of said detachable connections in said hinged carton closure member; and,

f. a locking flap for said hinged carton closure member foldably attached to the upper edge of another of said end wall panels.

2. The carton blank of claim 1 wherein said detachable connections each comprise perforated lines.

3. The carton blank of claim 1 wherein said detachable connections each comprise removable tear strip portions.

4. A reinforced pour spout carton having a hinged reclosable lid formed from a single blank of paperboard or the like comprising:

a. a plurality of rectangularly arranged wall panels connected together to form a carton outer shell and including a pair of opposed end wall panels, and a pair of opposed side wall panels, one of said side wall panels being formed from two half-width side wall flaps which overlap one another only at their extreme ends to form a glued manufacturers joint in substantially the central portion thereof;

b. a hinged carton closure member foldably attached to one of said side wall panels and comprising a plurality of flanges which partially overlap a carton end wall panel and two adjacent side wall panels in the closed condition of said carton;

c. bottom closure flaps foldably connected to the bottom edges of each of said opposed side and end wall panels;

d. top closure flaps foldably attached to the upper edges of said side wall panels, one of said end wall panels and each of said hinged carton closure flanges; and, p

e. a locking flap for said hinged carton closure member foldably attached to the upper edge of another of said end wall panels. 

1. A carton blank formed from foldable material for fabricating a reclosable pour spout carton comprising: a. a plurality of spaced parallel side wall panels and spaced parallel end wall panels connected to one another along substantially parallel fold lines: b. a hinged carton closure member integral with said blank and foldably attached thereto along one of said side wall panels, said hinged carton closure member comprising a plurality of flanges including a first flange detachably connected to said side wall panel, an intermediate flange foldably connected to said first flange, a second flange foldably connected to the opposite side of said intermediate flange and a glue flap detachably connected to the opposite edge of said second flange; c. bottom closure flaps foldably connected to the bottom edges of each of said spaced side and end wall panels; d. top closure flaps foldably attached to the upper edges of said side wall panels, one of said end wall panels and each of said hinged carton closure flanges; e. hinged fold lines in said top closure flaps which extend from the ends of said detachable connections in said hinged carton closure member; and, f. a locking flap for said hinged carton closure member foldably attached to the upper edge of another of said end wall panels.
 2. The carton blank of claim 1 wherein said detachable connections each comprise perforated lines.
 3. The carton blank of claim 1 wherein said detachable connections each comprise removable tear strip portions.
 4. A reinforced pour spout carton having a hinged reclosable lid formed from a single blank of paperboard or the like comprising: a. a plurality of rectangularly arranged wall panels connected together to form a carton outer shell and including a pair of opposed end wall panels, and a pair of opposed side wall panels, one of said side wall panels being formed from two half-width side wall flaps which overlap one another only at their extreme ends to form a glued manufacturers joint in substantially the central portion thereof; b. a hinged carton closure member foldably attached to one of said side wall panels and comprising a plurality of flanges which partially overlap a carton end wall panel and two adjacent side wall panels in the closed condition of said carton; c. bottom closure flaps foldably connected to the bottom edges of each of said opposed side and end wall panels; d. top closure flaps foldably attached to the upper edges of said side wall panels, one of said end wall panels and each of said hinged carton closure flanges; and, e. a locking flap for said hinged carton closure member foldably attached to the upper edge of another of said end wall panels. 